Yuichiro Miura (75), an
internationally renowned professional skier and adventurer, and his Miura
Qomolangma 2008 expedition team reached the summit of the world’s highest peak
Mt. Everest (Chinese name-Mt. Qomolangma;

8848m) from the Nepalese
South East Ridge Route today at 7:33 am Nepal Time.

Team departed Camp 5 (C5;
8400m) at 24:15 Nepal Time and summited after 7 hours of climbing.

Yuichiro Miura’s comment on
the Summit (dispatch to BC):

“I’ve just reached the
summit! Thank you!! It was definitely a harsh and challenging climb, but I am
overwhelmed by joy and happiness. It is truly a blessing to be able to stand
on the Everest summit twice even after I had become septuagenarian. The view
is unbelievably wonderful. I can see everything and all the Himalaya giants
are congratulating me!”

Summiting Members

Japanese

- Yuichiro Miura (75)

- Noriyuki Muraguchi (51)

- Kazuya Igarashi (48)

Climbing Sherpas

- Mr. Ngatemba Sherpa

- Mr. Nima Kancha

- Mr. Phur Gyalzen Sherpa

- Mr. Nima Nurubu Sherpa

- Mr. Ongje Sherpa

- Mr. Tamting Sherpa

- Mr. Tashi Sherpa

- Mr. Pemba Gyalzen Sherpa

Total of 11 Members

This time challenge for
Yuichiro Miura was a challenge to his own limits; after being the oldest man
to summit Everest at the time in 2003, Yuichiro Miura suffered severe case of
arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) and had undergone two heart surgeries in
December 2006 and June 2007.

Yesterday (May 25th, 2008) a
Nepalese septuagenarian Mr. Min Bahadur Sherchan had renewed the world record
of oldest man to summit Everest at age 76. Although Yuichiro was not able to
make that record, he has made another genre of record; Yuichiro Miura is the
first and only man in the world to summit Mt. Everest twice as a
septuagenarian. Furthermore, this summit marked the 5th Everest summit for
Noriyuki Muraguchi, renewing his own record as most Everest summits as
Japanese.

Yuichiro’s second son Gota
Miura (38) who had been challenging for the same summit experienced early
symptoms of HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema; type of mountain sickness)
during the ascent to C5 (8400m) yesterday. With his father Yuichiro’s strong
will, Gota made a courageous decision to forsake this time ascent. Gota safely
descended to Camp 2 yesterday, and is scheduled to be back at BC today. His
physical condition is well on its way to recovery.

Team Miura will descend to
South Col Camp 4 (8000m) today, May 26th. The team is then scheduled to
descend to Camp 2 (6450m) tomorrow, and be back at BC on Wednesday, May 28th.

Yuichiro Miura is scheduled
to be back in Japan around June 3rd.

Earlier: Team Miura on C5 (May 25)

Yuichiro Miura (75) and his
team who departed Everest Base Camp (5360m) on May 20th has arrived to their
last camp C5 (8300m) today at 13:50 Nepal Time (17:05 Japan Time).

However, Gota Miura
experienced an early symptoms of HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema) during
the ascent to C5, thus with his father Yuichiro’s strong will, he has
descended to C4 at 12:30 Nepal Time and is currently on his way down to C2
with 2 Sherpas.

Yuichiro Miura, Noriyuki
Muraguchi, and Kazuya Igarashi, the remaining 3 summiting members and 3
Sherpas will stay at C5 today, and are scheduled to be on their summit push
starting early morning tomorrow, May 26th weather and other conditions
permitting.

Regarding Yuichiro Miura’s
Arrythmia (Irregular Heartbeat)

Currently, Dr. Yoshinori
Kobayashi (Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Nippon Medical
School), a member of Miura’s doctor team, is on stand by at Tokyo office
monitoring biometrics data sent from Everest including Electrocardiogram (ECG)
data.

Dr. Kobayashi’s comment on
yesterday’s ECG data taken during the climbing to C4 South Col (8000m) from
C3:

“No significant change is
observed in the ECG data taken during the climbing to South Col from the data
taken at lower altitude of 6000m~7000m, thus no alarming arrhythmia is
observed. Other biometrics data such as heart rate and SPO2 (blood oxygen
concentration) also indicate very good condition. Furthermore, the AMS (Acute
Mountain Sickness) Score that measures the progress of acclimatization seems
to be favorable overall. I wish the team all the best, hoping that this
condition will be maintained throughout the summit bid.”

Also, Yuichiro Miura
commented in his dispatch to BC after hearing the news of Mr. Min Bahadur
Sherchan's successful summit:

"Congratulations on the 76
year-old successful summit! As the same septuagenarian, I have also finally
reached C5 after a challenging ascent. I will now try my best to reach the
same summit, hopefully tomorrow."

Yuichiro Miura and Mr. Min
Bahadur Sherchan met with each other on May 16th at Everest Base Camp, wishing
each other the best for fulfilling their dream to stand on Everest summit.

Further expedition updates
will be sent as dispatches from base camp come in.

Update: Gota is now at C2 : Gota Miura
experienced an early symptoms of HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema) during
the ascent to C5,. With his father Yuichiro’s strong will, he has descended
to C4 at 12:30 Nepal Time and has safely arrived at C2 with the help of 2
Sherpas at 18:00 Nepal Time. Although he still feels numb on his right hand
and leg, have a slight headache, and feels extreme fatigue, he has recovered
from alarming symptoms of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) well-advised by Dr.
Kobayashi in Tokyo and Dr. Shiga in Everest Base Camp, and is on his way to
full recovery. Yuichiro at C5 commented on Gota’s safe arrival to C2 in
dispatch to BC: “The fact that Gota has safely arrived at C2 and is recovering
makes me happier than myself making it to the summit!”

Yuichiro Miura, Noriyuki
Muraguchi, and Kazuya Igarashi, the remaining 3 summiting members and 3
Sherpas will stay at C5 today, and are all in good condition. The team is
scheduled to be on their summit push tomorrow starting 2400hr Nepal Time, May
26th, and their summiting time is estimated at around 6~7am Nepal time weather
and other conditions permitting. Regards, Emili Miura

Project:
Only six months left to the launch of Miura Qomolangma 2008 Project, Team
Miura is on their final training to the start. Yuichiro Miura (Age 75) and
Gota Miura (Age 38) will conduct their final training and conditioning at the
Qomolangma’s
Advanced Base Camp (6400m) and its higher Camp for 1 month from October 10th,
2007.

Immediately
after the summiting of Mt Everest at age 70 years and 7 months in 2003,
Yuichiro Miura has drawn up his next adventure of summiting Mt Everest (Qomolangma)
from the Chinese side at age 75, challenging the limit of human capacity and
ability. However, soon after his return, he had suffered serious arrhythmia
(irregular heartbeat) and arterial fibrillation (irregular shaking of
arteries) due to aging and severe physical activities from climbing the
Everest. These symptoms are not rare, as one in every four elderly experience
them, in which their risks can be minimized with appropriate medication under
normal living circumstances. However, under a severe condition in high
altitudes over 8000m where the oxygen concentration level is extremely low,
the risks of arrhythmia and arterial fibrillation are tremendously high and
difficult to control. Thus, Yuichiro decided to undergo an arrhythmia
operation (Catheter Abberation) last December and went on a training
expedition to Island Peak in the Himalayas this spring to examine his health
progress. Unfortunately, his arrhythmia was again observed in a high altitude
condition, hence, Yuichiro underwent his second arrhythmia operation this June
soon after his return. Both operations were operated by the team headed by
Doctor Iesaka, the world pioneer of arrhythmia treatment, and Doctor Uno of
Tsuchiura Kyodo General Hospital, and Doctor Kobayashi and Doctor Koyama of
Nippon Medical School. With a close observation and treatment, and with
continual training, Yuichiro’s
physical ability and health had recovered to the point where he was at when he
summited Everest at age 70, results observed after physical fitness test
conducted at National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya this late
September.

Yuichiro
and Gota Miura underwent a two-day physical fitness test at National Institute
of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya under the supervision of Professor Masayoshi
Yamamoto on September 24th and 25th.

Kanoya’s
physical fitness tests have been conducted every year since year 2000, and aim
to observe Yuichiro’s
long-term physical changes caused by aging.

The main
objectives of this time physical test were to examine how the two Catheter
Abberation operations have influenced Yuichiro’s
physical fitness, and to compare his current fitness level to his fitness
level observed immediately before departing to Everest expedition in 2003.

It was
observed that the Volume O2 Maximum (VO2Max) was most influenced physical
fitness value by the two Catheter Abberation operations. VO2Max is an
indicator of an individual’s
aerobic capacity, thus determining its endurance level.

In 2003
before the summit of Mt Everest, Yuichiro’s
VO2Max was 32.08ml/kg/min. This amount exceeded the average VO2 Max value of
the age 70’s,
which is 27.7ml/kg/min, and his estimated age equivalent to the VO2Max value
at the time was age 56. However, due to his arrhythmia and arterial
fibrillation observed soon after the summit, his VO2Max decreased to
27.9ml/kg/min, a 16% decrease in aerobic capacity, equating to the average
amount of his age 74. This result was explained as due to Yuichiro’s
heavy load activity that limited his cardiac output (blood outflow from the
heart), triggering arterial fibrillation.

Yet, after
undergoing two operations, Yuichiro’s
arterial fibrillation was almost fully controlled, and he was freed from the
medication, which he was on for more than a year to control the heart rate and
the rhythm.

As a
result, his VO2Max valued up to 32.7ml/kg/min, a higher mark than the value in
2003 before the Everest summit and more than 17% increase from the value
observed in 2006.

This number
indicates that his fitness level is in age 50’s.

According
to Dr. Iesaka and Dr. Uno who had operated on Yuichiro in both operations,
this result was due to the improvements on Yuichiro’s
cardiac output, as it had increased 20% since the operations.

Moreover,
Yuichiro’s
value for back strength and vertical jump showed a small but significant
increase. This increase may have resulted from this summer’s
two-week training camp that involved stretching, muscle training, and mountain
climbing in Salt Lake City.

However,
Prof. Yamamoto advised that Yuichiro’s
leg extension and reduction values need to be improved considering maintaining
leg muscle strength required for long climbing activities. Concentration in
training on leg muscles will be anticipated.

In
conclusion, physical fitness test showed significant increase in overall
fitness, which is an astonishing outcome considering the fact that Yuichiro
has aged 5 years since 2003.

With the
success of arrhythmia operations, the safety level of mountain climbing
activities can be said to have increased and the necessary physical fitness is
attained for Yuichiro’s
next challenge. The summit of Everest that seemed so far to reach until last
year is alas in clear view.

Our main
objectives now, are to reach ABC as safely and with less strain as possible in
this final training expedition, and closely observe and maintain Yuichiro’s
physical strength and fitness during his remaining period for acclimatization
to the X Day in 2008, a valuable quest for ultimate physiological anti-aging.